DRINK DRIVING SENTENCES

Convicted Driver Insurance
O88 said:
He had 3/4 pints and he is an alcoholic in their eyes? Plus 29 month ban? That is insane!
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29 months does sound steep, the only reason i can think for this is the fact of not providing a specimen (carries a longer ban and is seen as more severe) and secondly being involved in a road traffic collision, despite nobody being hurt it is classed as an aggravating factor again bumping up the sentence. However for a first drink driving offence to be banned 29 months, suspended sentence, RAR days and community service is a hell of a lot, whether there are other issues at play or the judge was having a bad day i dont know!
 
JamesConnery said:
Is it? I had representation as well, who put across otherwise.
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It does for a first driving offence, it just seems steep in the fact of the ban length, suspended sentence, 200 hours community service and 15 RAR days, it seems very excessive, baring in mind my first offence of not providing, got a 17.5 month ban and a fine, and was involved in an incident, no community service or suspended sentences etc.
 
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TCB1989 said:
It does for a first driving offence, it just seems steep in the fact of the ban length, suspended sentence, 200 hours community service and 15 RAR days, it seems very excessive, baring in mind my first offence of not providing, got a 17.5 month ban and a fine, and was involved in an incident, no community service or suspended sentences etc.
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Yeah, I didn’t get a suspended sentence, but looking back, I think the magistrate took the advice of the pre-sentence report, which said community service OR Rar days and gave me both… I think I’ll contact my solicitor.
 
It’s to late to do anything now and I might be a million miles off, we don’t know what other factors were involved James, the sentenced is now passed and wouldn’t be worth the time or legal expenses to challenge it. I know failing to provide carries harsher sentences anyway but just seems very excessive for a first DD offence. Especially 200 hours community service/ Rar days and the 29 month ban. It’s almost at the 36 months starting point for a second drink drive!
 
TCB1989 said:
It’s to late to do anything now and I might be a million miles off, we don’t know what other factors were involved James, the sentenced is now passed and wouldn’t be worth the time or legal expenses to challenge it. I know failing to provide carries harsher sentences anyway but just seems very excessive for a first DD offence. Especially 200 hours community service/ Rar days and the 29 month ban. It’s almost at the 36 months starting point for a second drink drive!
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To be fair, I can still appeal. My solicitor sent me a letter/email yesterday that stated they thought theres no point appealing though.
 
JamesConnery said:
To be fair, I can still appeal. My solicitor sent me a letter/email yesterday that stated they thought theres no point appealing though.
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It would be a long expensive process James, some people get lucky for first DD and get 16-17 month and a fine, some magistrates throw the book and make examples of people, like I say yours is slightly more serious failing to provide but like us all hopefully you’ve learnt from it!
 
Brief Description of Offence:
Drank 1/4 to 1/3 a bottle of rum on the night, got a phone call in the morning from my mother in law that the taxi hadn't turned up to pick my son up for school and without thinking I jumped out of bed and drove down to get him, on the way down I misjudged a gap on a narrrow road and side swiped a car.

Blood Alcohol Level and Reading Type:
Breath 69ug

Mitigating Factors:
22 year licence, no previous convictions, co-operation with the police

Aggravating Factors:
Accident

Legal Representation at Court?:
Yes duty solicitor

Sentence:
17 month ban, £400 fine

Offered the Drink Driving Rehabilitation Course?:
Yes and I will be booking it as soon as I get the details

Sentence Comments:
I got the very minimum for my reading, I was expecting to be at the top end
I wore a suit (I was the only person other than solicitors) wrote a statment expressing regret and remorse
DS did well and put my mind at ease once I talked to him
 
Brief Description of Offence:
Was (and still am) struggling to come to terms with my sister being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer at age 35.

Had a few home measures of vodka and mixer in the garden then received a call saying she was in a lot of pain so atupidly jumped in my car. Crashed into a lamppost at the end of my road. Police and ambulance called by member of public.

Blood Alcohol Level and Reading Type:
Urine 233 mg
Over twice the limit

Mitigating Factors:
long clean driving record, no previous convictions, short distance driven, genuine remorse shown, a responsible job, attending counselling.

Aggravating Factors:
Crashed into a lamppost

Legal Representation at Court?:
Spoke to duty solicitor before going it alone in court

Sentence:
12 month ban, reduced to 9 after tge course. £700 fine.

Offered the Drink Driving Rehabilitation Course?:
Yes, absolutely taking it

Sentence Comments:
Very happy with this result, the magistrate really took on board my letter and mitigating circumstances, and said they had gone out of the guidelines of 17-22 month ban as I was clearly remorseful and doing my job is going to be very challenging with out a car (social work for children leaving care)
 
Brief Description of Offence:
Drank 5 cans of strong cider in a country lane layby parked up in my car. Planned on sleeping in the car. Random passer by reported me.
(was convicted of being in charge of a vehicle with excess alcohol DR40)

Blood Alcohol Level and Reading Type:
56mg breath

Mitigating Factors:
No previous convictions, 30+ years clean driving licence

Aggravating Factors:
None.

Legal Representation at Court?:
Duty solicitor in court

Sentence:
No ban, £300 fine, DR40 conviction (in charge of vehicle, not driving), so 5 years on licence not 10 as regular drink driving conviction.

Offered the Drink Driving Rehabilitation Course?:
N/A

Sentence Comments:
I was fully expecting to be banned from driving and bought myself and Ebike to commute to work before my court date. I could not believe it when I was not banned. I thought all DD convictions were bans. I feel very lucky. I am still driving and my insurance is about 40 percent more (about £120 a year for me, no big deal), but at least I can still drive.

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BigBird said:
Brief Description of Offence:
Drank 5 cans of strong cider in a country lane layby parked up in my car. Planned on sleeping in the car. Random passer by reported me.

Blood Alcohol Level and Reading Type:
56mg breath

Mitigating Factors:
No previous convictions, 30+ years clean driving licence

Aggravating Factors:
None.

Legal Representation at Court?:
Duty solicitor in court

Sentence:
No ban, £300 fine, DR40 conviction (in charge of vehicle, not driving), so 5 years on licence not 10 as regular drink driving conviction.

Offered the Drink Driving Rehabilitation Course?:
N/A

Sentence Comments:
I was fully expecting to be banned from driving and bought myself and Ebike to commute to work before my court date. I could not believe it when I was not banned. I thought all DD convictions were bans. I feel very lucky. I am still driving and my insurance is about 40 percent more (about £120 a year for me, no big deal), but at least I can still drive.

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Some people get lucky with a DR40 conviction and only get 10 points on their licence, which I'm assuming is what happened with you? Did you state to the magistrate(s) that you needed your licence to be able to get to work and that without it you'd likely lose your job?
 
Xeronema said:
Some people get lucky with a DR40 conviction and only get 10 points on their licence, which I'm assuming is what happened with you? Did you state to the magistrate(s) that you needed your licence to be able to get to work and that without it you'd likely lose your job?
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I have still not actually had my DR40 conviction appear on my licence, despite being convicted last August. I check regulary on the DVLA licence checker and it still says I have a clean licence. I think it's a clerical error between the courts and them not informing DVLA. I was fully expecting a mandatory ban at the time, so I never even played the card of needing my car to get to work. The duty solicitor told me that because I was not actually driving and I was in a layby, I would be charged for 'in charge' as apposed to 'driving', so I should get 10 points and not be banned. That is exactly what happened in my court appearance. The strange thing was, I was in court all day and they closed my court late afternoon and I had to go into a side room for a video link to another court to be convicted. Maybe this is where the clerical error lies. I have assumed the DR40 based on my court conviction. The judge specifically said I would have 10 points and that I must be careful not to get even a speeding endorsement from now on as I would be banned under totting up. I had to renew my insurance recently and I declared the DR40 and points, with the fine that I got from the courts. I do however need to hire a car for a couple of days soon and I know that I could do this as the licence check would come up clean. I don't know whether I should play dumb and just hire the car as I have no licence convictions and I still don't know if they will ever be applied. I do obviously have a court record of my conviction.....
 
BigBird said:
I have still not actually had my DR40 conviction appear on my licence, despite being convicted last August. I check regulary on the DVLA licence checker and it still says I have a clean licence. I think it's a clerical error between the courts and them not informing DVLA. I was fully expecting a mandatory ban at the time, so I never even played the card of needing my car to get to work. The duty solicitor told me that because I was not actually driving and I was in a layby, I would be charged for 'in charge' as apposed to 'driving', so I should get 10 points and not be banned. That is exactly what happened in my court appearance. The strange thing was, I was in court all day and they closed my court late afternoon and I had to go into a side room for a video link to another court to be convicted. Maybe this is where the clerical error lies. I have assumed the DR40 based on my court conviction. The judge specifically said I would have 10 points and that I must be careful not to get even a speeding endorsement from now on as I would be banned under totting up. I had to renew my insurance recently and I declared the DR40 and points, with the fine that I got from the courts. I do however need to hire a car for a couple of days soon and I know that I could do this as the licence check would come up clean. I don't know whether I should play dumb and just hire the car as I have no licence convictions and I still don't know if they will ever be applied. I do obviously have a court record of my conviction.....
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I'd be very careful when deciding if you're going to risk doing that, with regards to hiring a car. I suspect that the insurance wouldn't be valid, as the points would never be declared to the insurance company covering you whilst driiving the hire car - I can't be certain of this, I could be wrong. It's certainly not something I'd do, I'd just be too worried about being found out.

Would you risk taking out insurance on your own vehicle without declaring the 10 points? If the answer to that is no, I'd suggest that you don't try and hire a car without telling them. That's just my opinion, others may vary.
 
Drinkdriving.org said:
This thread has been created in order for you to add details of your drink driving conviction and subsequent sentence. It has been created as a means of a quick and easy look up and comparison for different sentences and intoxication levels.

Simply highlight the text below and press ctrl+c, click 'post reply', then press ctrl+v to paste the text into your reply. Once you have done this, substitute what appears after the bold text with your own replies.

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Brief Description of Offence:
e.g Had a couple of drinks, thought I was ok to drive OR had argument with spouse, stupidly got into the car to drive to a friends etc (keep it brief)

Blood Alcohol Level and Reading Type:
Breath/Blood/Urine e.g Breath 70ug OR refusal to provide specimen

Mitigating Factors:
Factors that the sentencing court would look favourable upon. e.g long clean driving record, no previous drink driving / criminal convictions, co-operation with the police, short distance driven, driving due to an emergency etc.

Aggravating Factors:
Factors that the sentencing court view as making the offence more serious. e.g involved in an accident, police chase, leaving scene of an accident, un co-operative with the police, previous drink driving / criminal convictions etc

Legal Representation at Court?:
Yes/No

Sentence:
Length of disqualification, fine and costs amount, community service, electronic tag, probation, prison? e.g 14 month ban, £200 fine, £60 costs, 180 hours community service.

Offered the Drink Driving Rehabilitation Course?:
Yes/No (if yes do you intend to take and complete the course?)

Sentence Comments:
Any comments on the sentence given? too lenient, too harsh, what you expected? (keep it brief)

Please click here to share your emotions and other reactions both before, during and after the event.
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Brief Description of Offence:
Suffer with depression, got in the car after a long day drinking to go and end my life.

Blood Alcohol Level and Reading Type:
Breath - 82

Mitigating Factors:
Mental state, clean license, no previous convictions. Was not actually caught, only got arrested after police came when I called them due to attempting to take my own life.

Aggravating Factors:
No aggravating factors

Legal Representation at Court?:
Yes

Sentence:
17 months disqualified, £253 fine and costs

Offered the Drink Driving Rehabilitation Course?:
Yes, intend to take straight away.

Sentence Comments:
Feel very let down that I have effectively been punished for not taking my own life, but the courts only care about laws, not people.
 
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